Westhaven by Rowan Erlking (best sci fi novels of all time TXT) 📕

“Come here.” Lanona waved them over then pointed over towards the far inland city wall. “They say there is the inn district. Bredin said that his inn had a blue roof at the end of the canals, but I can’t spot it. Can you?”

Key crossed over to the railing then clung hard onto it, attacked by sudden vertigo. With grasping hands, Loid and Lanona reached out and pulled him back.

He looked up at them. “Sorry. I guess I don’t handle heights well. Where did you say?”

Pointing back towards the city wall, Lanona kept her eyes on him as she still thought he’d still fall. “Over there. Do you see a building with a blue roof?”

“All the roofs look washed out,” Telerd grumbled, rubbing his head from the hangover he had from all the drinking the night before.

“You have to look with Stilson eyes,” Key muttered and glanced at the two locals. “Can they see it?”

Lanona shook her head the same time the coupled did. They also stepped back from the newcomers with a few uneasy glances towards the swords at the men’s hips.

“The houses all look the same to them.”

Nodding, Key then sighed. “Alright then, we’ll forget that tunnel for now. You can feel it out when Tiler and Rainold have rented the room.”

She nodded and then peered over the landscape, narrowing her eyes at the fat horizon. “Fine. Then where is that military post?”

Key peered over the washout cityscape. His eyes rested on the land beyond the wall. The golden fields of dry hay went on towards the horizon, though to the north he could see the faint trace of the Wede Mountains. Coming from it, he saw a road—black asphalt that veered directly to the city gates.

Closing his eyes, Key dug back into his memory, searching his murky thoughts for the day the general had brought him to Stiltson. Slowly they formed more solidly in his mind. It was right before they had gone into the Southwest Corner, when he was still barely the general’s property. However the general had not yet switched to the automobile with the rumble seat, so his view had been limited to out the back passenger side window. Still, he remembered the signs he had seen and the buildings they had passed. Opening his eyes, he pointed to the highway and followed it with his finger.

“There. That road leads into the city. And there, it travels past that building with the slightly gabled roof with the flat part that sticks out. You can see the specks on it. Those are soldiers. That’s a watch platform. That’s the post.” He then trailed down the road and nodded, peering at the other buildings. He then stopped on one. “And that inn has a blue roof. I wouldn’t be surprised if that were Bredin’s inn.”

“Wait.” Loid peered at the place Key had pointed out. “Are you saying that General Gole stayed at the Sea Fisher’s inn?”

Key stepped back with a shrug. “Bredin did say it was a rich sort of place. The general would have chosen that kind of inn the last time we stayed here. The canal goes right up to it. Look. I’d expect someone like Bredin to own a place with direct access to the sea.”

They all nodded. Though, Soin peered more at the military post. He then gestured to it. “Th-that post is not so c-close to the canals th-though. How am I s-supposed to flood it?”

Lanona smirked, jabbing him in the ribs. “You don’t. I’ll sink it.”

Soin nodded at that.

Key just stared.

“You’ll what?” He shook his head. “They’ll know something is up, Lanona.”

She returned his chiding look. “Not if I do it during the storm. If Soin makes the waves, I’ll make the ground shake when they hit. They’ll think the pillars under the building have eroded completely. It’s a problem in bay areas with stilt houses. I did live near a bay, you know. I do know what water can do over time.”

“But I don’t want you out in that,” Key said. “And this morning, I heard the general was in town. He’ll figure it out and hunt you down.”

Lanona made a face. “I’m not afraid of that general.”

“Well I am!” Key snapped back.

Everyone went silent.

Closing his eyes, shaking his head, Key breathed hard, trying to control his temper. “For pity sake, Lanona. The general is a dangerous demon, more so than the other Sky Children. I don’t want any us taking unnecessary risks while he is here.”

“I can protect myself!” she shouted. “I’m not a weakling!”

“Neither was my father!” Key snapped back. “And the general ran a hot iron through his chest.”

Lanona froze. She looked to Soin.

Her fellow wizard nodded.

The local couple backed towards the hatch and started to climb down. Luis stopped the pair and whispered something to them with warning. They went down more slowly, casting glances to them all before they were gone.

Looking down at her, breathing hard, Key said with deliberate care, “Everyone that I have dearly loved has been killed by the Sky Children. I don’t think I could bear seeing the same thing happen to you. We have to do this with care, or wait for another time. There are some risks not worth taking.”

“But we aren’t going to wait, Kemdin” Telerd said, checking his pistol to make sure it was loaded, then giving a nod to Loid. “Soin is going to make that storm look so real and natural that they won’t suspect a thing. I’m sure they’ll be able to coordinate it fine.”

Soin sighed and nodded. He rested a hand on Key’s shoulder. “We can do this.”

“And not all the people you care about are dead.” Loid patted Key on his other shoulder.

“No kidding,” Telerd put in, smiling.

“And I’ll make sure no one harms them when they conjure the storm and sink the military post,” Luis added.

“We’d just better sink the homes on that row also,” Lanona said.

Key groaned, shaking Loid and Soin off. “I just don’t want her at risk. And it’s not that I think she’s weak. For heaven sakes, she’s a wizard. She terrifies me.”

Blinking, Lanona took a step back. Her face went white. And despite meaning it, Key felt a stab in his heart for saying it aloud.

“I don’t mean it like that.” Key took a step closer to her. “I….”

“Just go already,” she said, withdrawing more, turning her eyes away. “You’ve said enough. I can figure out where to put the city tunnels myself.”

Key stiffened. He watched her go back to Soin who shook his head at him as if to say again that she was being very patient with him.

Key’s heart pounded in his chest hard. The way Lanona turned her head as if he had crushed her heart made him want to go after her.

But Loid grabbed a hold of his arm, smirking.

“Come on, idiot. We’ll fix that mess later.” Loid yanked hard to make him move. “We have work to do.”

“I know. Shut up.” Key stomped down the steps feeling suddenly very tired.

They waited until Lanona’s temper had cooled off. It took a while, but by then Soin had increased the rainstorm and they were ready for them to take up the next leg of their plans. Lanona came down with Soin without even a glance at Key. Immediately she relocated the tunnel entrance for the tower to inside the closet underneath the tower stairs. Then she started hollowing out a tunnel to the inn.

It was a long dark journey. Most of it was tedious and tiring, though mostly for the two wizards. Loid had a torch, but it was nearly doused twice as Soin struggled to keep the water at bay while Lanona gathered rock from the bay to seal up the tunnel walls. The made them thick. The water above them rose in the canals each time she shifted and hollowed out the stone and molded the sand. But with the storm, it only seemed natural for the water to rise.

The floating human homes merely lifted with the water, but already the canal water lapped the top edge of the stone walkways of wealthier parts of the city—beginning the flood. It was well into the afternoon when they emerged from the tunnel and entered the rented dining room where Tiler and Rainold waited.

“Finally.” Tiler reached in for Lanona’s hand to help her out. They had shifted the table to the side, and Rainold had a rolled up rug that obviously had gone over the floor. “Did you notice your little storm is now flooding this part of the city?”

Soin climbed out, looking at Tiler as if he had asked a stupid question.

“Good.” Key climbed out next. He had to squeeze past Loid and Luis to get out quicker. He ignored everyone else and rushed behind Lanona. Grabbing her by the arm, he said, “Look, I’m sorry. Your plan is good, I’m just—”

“A freaking nervous jerk,” Lanona snapped back.

Key removed his hand. “I said I was sorry.”

She turned to face him, closing the distance between them. She took hold of Key’s collar as if to adjust it. Then she reached up to his hat, tucking in the escaped white hairs. “Out of all of us, you are the only one really at risk. Why can’t you just trust us to do our jobs and you wait somewhere safe, for once.”

Lowering his head, he averted his eyes. “Because I am a freaking nervous jerk that wants to be there to watch your back.”

“That’s the same with us, Key,” she said.

“Eh, none of that,” Loid abruptly pushed into the center of the group, bringing his head down low in a whisper. “We are now in enemy territory. We should call him by his birth name—Kemdin.”

Tiler cast Rainold a tired look, but Luis was nodding.

“That’s right.” Luis reached for the rug to cover the hole, though Rainold did not pass it over yet. “No one is looking for a Kemdin. But the name Key is now listened for. We also ought to not use the name Tiler.”

Making another face, Tiler pointed to Loid. “But it’s his face on the posters.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Luis then glanced at Loid’s obvious lake man attire. “He doesn’t look anything like that poster anyway.”

“Quit arguing,” Telerd snapped. He then gestured to the hole. “Lanona, how long do you think it will take for you and Soin to make the rest of the tunnels Bredin wants? So far we only have the ones to start our operation.”

She remained next to Key but looked to Telerd. “I plan to make one more near the military post, one I intend to collapse once everyone is inside the post. If Key—I mean Kemdin has finished planning the escape routes after the raid is over, then I can start it now and just continue with the rest of the tunnels after the storm.”

“Wait a minute!” Key grabbed hold of her arms. “You’re not planning on staying after the raid, are you?”

Soin reached in and pried Key’s hands off of her, looking him in the eyes. “K-kemdin, Lanona and I d-discussed it last night with Bredin. To g-give you a head start, w-we felt we sh-should stay and f-finish the job.”

Luis came to him also, smiling at Key as they pulled him aside. “If you want to stay in Stiltson also, you can. But your purpose here will be over.”

Key looked back to Lanona. “But after the raid and Bredin’s attack, there will be more soldiers in Stiltson, not less. How are you three going to get out?”

“By sea,” Luis said.

Key blinked at him.

“Bredin already arranged a boat for us. We requested it,” Luis said.

Luis waited for Key’s response. So did Lanona who set a hand on her hip.

Key turned to face her. “Where are you planning to go? The major port cities are full of Sky Children. They’ll pick you off if they find out you came from Sundri.”

“There is a small cove up north I know